We use them for work and play, and now computers and the Internet are increasingly being used to educate through online courses.

But can online learning help boost job skills and help people stand out in the tough labour market?

Gladia Biswas has completed a course at Conestoga College, but she didn't have to step foot on the campus to do it.

"I'm taking general business. It's a Diploma program with 24 courses," Biswas says. "I thought I would take it because I do work full time. I thought it might be easier to work it into my schedule and go at my own pace."

She can check her grades, look at course notes and communicate with classmates and instructors, and she says it is straight forward, easy and you can access it anytime.

And those are among the reasons students are swapping pen and paper for passwords and portals.

Ontario Learn is a group of colleges across the province that delivers online courses. They say enrollment in online courses has gone from 500 students in 1995 to about 66, 529 now.

At local universities, enrollment in online undergraduate course is also up.

Cathy Kelly of the Centre for Extended Learning at the University of Waterloo says "Online learning is very popular at the University of waterloo, and it stems out of a very long-lived program in distance education actually."

And modern technology is making distance much less of an issue. Kitchener-based Desire2Learn says it develops online learning tools for 500 schools around the world.

Desire2Learn COO Jeremy Auger says "You can do online quizzing and submit your assignments online, things like that, so you're not actually printing out a stack of paper every week when you do your assignment, walking it in and stuffing it in a box and hoping the instructor gets it."

But while there are thousands of courses online, and some colleges and universities offer entire diploma programs or degrees online, some still say it's not for everyone.

It all depends on your computer skills, study habits, learning style and what you're studying. And you may still have to take your exam at a supervised centre.

Larry Lawrence is taking two online courses for an Addiction Careworker Diploma program at McMaster University.

The Kitchener, Ont. resident says "I think, for me, the classroom is better."

Since he has a full time job, studying at home cuts travel time and costs, but he says some online options can't simulate hands-on courses because you're not interacting with other people.

Biswas also likes the flexibility of studying online, but does prefer face-to-face contact in the classroom.

"I feel more accountable when I'm going to school," she says. "If I don't have my homework done or I haven't done well on a test, and my instructor's handing it back to me, I feel ‘Oh, that's not good.'"

When it comes to tuition, while some may think online courses are cheaper, that doesn't really seem to be the case.

Lawrence says he saves about $40 on each online course, while Biswas says some online courses cost more than others.

And Kelly says "There's no cost differential for an online course with respect to tuition."

That may be because, according to Kelly, "Online courses are subjected to the same rigour in terms of academic integrity and academic quality, and so on."

Biswas is happy to be able to get the skills she needs to boost her career, but she says "It's not just something easy. It's not a piece of cake. You really do have to be dedicated to the fact that you're learning something."

But not everyone may be taking advantage of online learning. In an unofficial Web poll by CTV Southwestern Ontario, only 36 per cent said they had taken an online course.

Coming up in part two: What employers think about online courses and whether online learning can help you get a job.